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Union Canal Tunnel barge rides suspended

PA Fish and Boat Commission says barges and pilots must be certified.

JOHN LATIMER Staff Writer

Updated:
07/02/2013 04:45:07 PM EDT

Barge rides like this one taken by visitors to Union Canal Tunnel Park in May 2012 will be suspended after July 4 by order of the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission until the barges and their pilots are certified. (FILE PHOTO)

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is putting the barges at the Union Canal Tunnel Park in dry dock until they and the captains who pilot them are certified.

Barge rides will be conducted as planned on July 4 from 4:30 to 9 p.m. at the historic North Lebanon Township park. But the rides will be discontinued afterwards and until the eight volunteer captains complete physicals, drug testing, and several nautical skill exams, said Barbara Gaffney, president of the Lebanon County Historical Society, the parent organization under which the Friends of the Union Canal Tunnel Park operates.

In addition to certifying the barge captains, the barges themselves will have to be certified for safety and occupancy limits.

The Friends of the Union Canal Tunnel Park s two canal boats, the Lois H. Meilly and the Earl P. Leiby, sit moored recently at the east end of the canal near North 25th Street and Union Canal Drive. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS BRAD RHEN)

The directive from the Fish and Boat Commission was made last week after agency officials paid a visit to the Historical Society to discuss the situation, said Gaffney.

Barge rides into the Union Canal Tunnel - the nation's oldest transportation tunnel - have been offered for many years and are a primary fundraising source for the non-profit organization, which operates them at special events and on Sundays from June through October.

Some representatives of the park group, like volunteer Paul Quinn, thought they were in compliance with state regulations after making changes, including adding life jackets to the boats, when they received a citation for non-compliance in 2006.

"We were not aware that we were in violation at the time (in 2006)," said Quinn.

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"So we immediately went to the Fish and Boat Commission and got everything we were told we needed to have so we could operate without any problem."

That apparently was not the case.

The Historical Society was notified in writing this spring after a review of records indicated the barge operation was not in compliance and since then has been working to resolve the situation with Col. Corey Britcher, head of the Fish and Boat Commission's law enforcement division.

"They are not in full compliance and we are working with them to get them there," Britcher said. "We have no intention to shut them down as long as they are willing to take the steps to get in compliance."

Phil Feather, president of the Friends of the Union Canal Tunnel Park, said he and others were also surprised by the notification because they thought there was an unwritten agreement with the Fish and Boat Commission allowing the Union Canal Tunnel Park to operate the rides without full compliance, similar to the arrangement enjoyed by the operators of Penns Cave near State College in Centre County.

Britcher said he has found no evidence of a verbal agreement, and noted that the allowance for Penn's Cave and other cavern-ride operators is in the state's codified law regulating pay-for-hire boat rides, and do not apply to the Union Canal Tunnel Park.

"The law and regulations require certain thing of operators of a pay-for-hire (ride)," he said. "It's just like if you operate a taxi cab. There are certain things you have to do."

Feather, a retired Annville attorney, failed to see the distinction between operating in a tunnel or cavern. If anyone should get an allowance it should be a non-profit, he added.

"If we run our boat into a cavern and out - we are exempt," he said. "But if we run it into a tunnel and out, we are not."

Having to comply with the regulations will have a significant economic impact on the Friends of the Union Canal Tunnel Park, Feather said. He estimated the cost for licensing a barge captain at between $200 and $250, and certifying the two barges at between $475 to $700 each.

Gaffney said she understood the Fish & Boat Commission's directive was motivated by safety. Although the barges only operate in about four-feet of water, they have never been graded for maximum occupancy, which could leave the Historical Society vulnerable should a mishap occur, she said.

"The main concern of the Fish and Boat Commission is the safety of the boats - the balance and how many should be allowed on them," she said. "Our main concern is safety, but also the big liability we might come under if we do not follow the regulations."